We're all stakeholders in coastal restoration: Bob Marshall

A question for anyone out there whose job doesn't directly depend on Louisiana's coastal ecosystem: Have you been designated an official "stakeholder" in the state's effort to address its coastal crisis?

I'm guessing you haven't. I'm guessing that if you aren't a commercial fisher or charter boat captain, if you're not an oilman, refinery owner or in the shipping and port industries, the government has yet to place your name card on a table.

And if that's the case you should be angry. And scared. And motivated. Because the largest, potentially most powerful "stakeholder group" in southeast Louisiana -- the people who don't take their livings from the coast but depend on a healthy coast to live here -- has been largely left out of the planning for the fight that will determine what our future looks like in 50 years and if we have one at all.

That light bulb went off in the very dim space between my ears recently while being apprised of a daylong forum June 10 at Our Lady of Holy Cross College. Top officials in the coastal restoration effort will explain the pending projects designed to combat the cancer called coastal erosion that is consuming our futures. I was told the panel will tell the audience how the projects will work and what the impacts will be on their lives, then take questions.

Then I was told this: We really need to get the stakeholders involved, the people from the coastal communities and businesses that will be impacted by this.

I was stunned. Not only have the stakeholders mentioned been involved from the very start, they are also part of the reason the projects have been so dangerously delayed.

A little history on the "stakeholder" process will help explain that.

About 40 years ago public resource managers, especially in fisheries, realized managing the people using those resources was the biggest challenge they faced. After all, unless the users of the resource accepted the plan, compliance would be minimal.

Eventually that gave birth to the idea of bringing representatives of "user groups" to the table. In the case of marine fisheries, this led to the regional fisheries management councils that had seats for commercial and recreational industries, charter boats, seafood wholesalers -- everyone who "used" the resource for profit.

"User groups" eventually gave way to the more prosaic if less honest term "stakeholder."

That strategy had one obvious weakness from the start: People whose jobs depend on using public resources are going to fight plans that reduce their incomes, even if those plans are in the best interest of the general public. That played a part in the collapse of various fisheries along all three coasts.

But acceptance of this stakeholder model has had a deeper, more far-reaching impact: It led to the de-facto privatization of public resources.

The most recent example was the BP oil spill. The heart of the ecosystem that creates a healthy living environment for millions of people was being assaulted, yet lists of the "impacted" contained only those who profit from the resources. Compensation was demanded for fishers, resort and marina owners -- even oil-field workers. The rest of us -- the overwhelming majority of the citizen-owners of this public property -- were left out.

That's routine in public resource management today. Those who monetize public resources get a seat at the table. Those whose only demand is a healthy functioning ecosystem are generally left out.

Which brings us back to Louisiana's coastal restoration efforts.

The stakeholder process is one reason we've been losing this fight. Years have been spent trying to meet the concerns of each user group before moving forward. Yet because "restoration" means returning things to the way they once were, some stakeholders have resisted many of the best solutions. They've been making their livings from the degraded ecosystem of the past 40 years, not the healthy system of 70 years ago. It's not that they want the coast to disappear -- they just want it to stay the way it is.

Unfortunately, that process has been a slow-moving disaster for the largest group of stakeholders, people who don't turn the coast into cash but need a healthy coast to live here. You have been largely left out and voiceless.

Well, it's time for you to take your place at the table. You not only deserve it, but it's unlikely the job will ever get done if you're not involved.

The forum at Our Lady of Holy Cross would be a good place to start. And they're serving a free lunch.

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Bob Marshall is a staff writer. He can be reached at rmarshall@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3539